Due to the COVID 19 emergency, Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske has announced that the June 9th statewide primary will be a mail-in primary for all voters. Some counties (such as Clark) are further along in the process of determining how this mail in balloting will work. We do know that mail-in ballots (which also double as your sample ballot) will be mailed to all “active” voters around the first week in May.
Only "Active Voters" will receive mail-in ballots. An active voter is usually defined as one who has recently properly registered or has voted in previous elections and has not moved since the last time they voted.
Make sure you receive your ballot. There are several important things you should know:
Find out if you are registered properly! If you have a valid Nevada Driver’s License or State ID, or if you have been registered to vote previously in Nevada and give the last four numbers of your Social Security number you can look this up at www.RegisterToVoteNV.gov If you are not listed there, or if the information given is incorrect (i.e. you need to change your party affiliation or your address) you can go to “New Registration” or “Update Your Registration.” You will NOT be able to register online if you don’t have a Nevada driver’s license or official ID card, but you will find a link to mail in voter registration and instructions on the website.
The deadline for mail-in voter registration is usually around a month before the election (it may vary by county) so please check your registration soon if you cannot do so online!
Your mail-in ballot should arrive the first week in May. DO NOT MARK anything on your ballot; it may render it invalid. The ballot will include a pre-paid return envelope; it must be postmarked on or before election day (June 9th, 2020) and received by June 15, 2020 to be counted. BE SURE TO SIGN YOUR BALLOT WITH YOUR USUAL LEGAL SIGNATURE (The same way you registered). If you registered online you can check the signature by going to “Update Your Registration.” If in you do NOT receive your ballot, please contact the Nevada Secretary of State’s office or your County Voter Registrar. Contact information can be found at www.nvsos.gov.
Remember: Nevada is a closed primary state. This means that you can only vote for candidates who are running as members of your chosen political party to be that party’s candidate in the November general elections. If you have registered to vote as a non-partisan, you will be blocked from voting in partisan races. There are a number of judicial races and perhaps some municipal races around the state, and those are usually non-partisan so you will be able to vote only in those races. Remember, you can change your party affiliation as instructed above. Doing so does NOT commit you to vote for a particular candidate or party in the general election, but it does give you the ability to better “make yourself heard” in the primary elections.
If for any reason (disability, lack of ability to access the Secretary of State’s office, etc.) you cannot register to vote on time and do NOT receive your mail-in ballot, new Nevada law allows you to register and vote same day. Because of the COVID-19 emergency there will be limited ways to do so but it will be possible. Counties are arranging for limited in-person sites ON election day (June 9th) where you can register to vote and then vote. Please note that there will typically only be ONE SUCH SITE per county. For example, we have heard (but not yet confirmed) that the in-person site in Clark County will be in North Las Vegas. So not only will you have to potentially expose yourself to the virus to vote in person, you will have to travel a LONG WAY to do so if you should live in the more southern portions of Clark County. Avoid this by registering to vote online NOW!
The League of Women Voters has an excellent blogpost where you can learn more about the mail-in primary in Nevada, deadlines, etc.